First off, I need to say that I know I’ve let a lot of you down (if not all). I know I’ve not met your expectations of an admin or a leader. I have no excuses as even I feel this way about myself. I won’t make attempts for empathy, I will only acknowledge the truth, and it is such.
Life is full of surprises. You can be rich one minute and living out of your car the next. You can be healthy one year and a regular in the doctor’s office the following. You can have life figured out only to discover you know nothing in the end. The only constant in life is change.
My life is not the same it was when I first met @Atko and started working on Voat. I have much less time, I have a bit less fight in me (getting old does this), I have a bit more struggle in life. These life changes have forced me to put Voat on the back burner (which hurts me).
Let’s get real
When it comes to “Free Speech” sites, I once believed that people cared enough about the value of free speech to make “clone” sites like Voat (or gab) successful. I’ve come to realize, and have said before, that this single factor isn’t enough. People simply do not value this right enough to make a “clone” successful.
You can see this with Voat. A majority of Voat users still use Reddit. People use Reddit for posting and interacting when it comes to PC topics (4 wheel drive subs, movie subs, book subs, etc.). They use Voat to post the things they can’t post on Reddit. This creates an imbalance where Voat becomes increasingly un-PC, while Reddit gets the neutral content (I know even the most hardened ideologue has a level of civility). The end result is this imbalance drives people away as people wear out when confronted by content like this over the long run.
I don’t know the solution to this, and I am not attempting to pass blame, I am simply stating a truth that has to considered.
What makes a clone not a clone?
Why I mention this in the first place is that I know a “clone” site will not become sustainable based on Freedom of Speech so I’ve tried to revolutionize the “community” aspect of Voat by providing a way the community itself can “vote” on policy (rules, mods, anything actually). It's the future capability of this feature-set that is appealing. A community can become self-sustaining and self-manageable through this new technology. After all, the draw of sites like Voat or Reddit is that it is community-oriented vs. self-oriented.
And I’m going to finish it. I’m going to finish it for me. I’m going to finish it for you. I’m going to finish it for Voat. I’m going to finish it for Freedom of Speech (because I still believe in this ideal).
I’m going to finish it because a “clone” site with no differentiation but policy will never succeed.
So Voat, please forgive me for my shortcomings if you can, and expect my work to continue on making Voat a truly unique website.
Soon.
P.S. Downtime today was because of a full disk (Thanks @derram for letting me know). We had an issue from about a year ago that inflated some files to crazy sizes and I took the time today to deal with this. So the next downtime should be something completely different! Yay!
https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806
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VoatsNewfag ago
Thanks for informing us. I personally really don't mind it if voat has a hiccup every once in a while as long as we're not left in the dark, it only makes everyone go crazy with conspiracy theories.
Personally I'm always slightly worried that you might one day abandon voat.
voltronsdicks ago
It's all the crazy "Jews did everything" followed by "every nigger is evil" and "whites are pure as the driven snow" bullshit that makes ppl think voat is just full of angsty teens.
If you can't be objective, you lose credibility.
Crensch ago
What happens when being objective leads you to those conclusions?
lanre ago
You don't have to talk about it every minute of every waking day. For example, if you're 60 years old and it'll take another 30 years to fix the problem then maybe you just wanna forget about it for awhile sometimes. People can't handle outrage nonstop and it just makes you pessimistic.
Crensch ago
You're making a completely new argument here.
The previous one was about our normal rhetoric being repulsive to others, and how (somehow) using that rhetoric is not being objective. So I'm not really sure why you're acting as if this comment is a continuation of either point.
As for the constant talk about it, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, not, "Eh, I need a break, so the rest of you stop talking about it now."
One of the only places on the net to discuss such things and faggots like you have to act like Jews and try to shut us up about it. NOT addressing the issue constantly, and pressing the issue constantly, is what led us to this sorry state of affairs.
Do you know who DIDN'T let up? (((Them))). Constantly, constantly whittling away at us. Never stopping to take a breath.
THEY have won up to now, and you want us to take a break?
Fuck you.
Alpha_Voat_Protecter ago
As someone who originally came here due to remembering an old Jewish tale that was popular on Reddit (about "Stop the government from silencing all of the minority groups, or one day you'll be the minority group they silence") and didn't even look into all of the (((coincidences))) for the first year or so (give or take a few months) after coming here:
Fuck anyone who tries to act like the SJWs and the Marxists by silencing any discussion here. If you don't like what people are saying, JOIN THE CONVERSATION AND USE A COMBINATION OF FACTS AND LOGIC TO MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE A DUMBASS!! If you still can't do that, then it's time for you to stop and either re-think your strategy or re-examine your beliefs and biases.
Bananazz ago
one thing is for sure... the propaganda is relentless and the lies are everywhere.
TallShortSkinnyFatM ago
I would like to second this "fuck you"!